As the Qing fleet retreated, there was a brief silence on the sea, but all the officers and men on the allied warships were panicked and frightened, because no one knew whether their warships would become the target of the Qing submarines in the next moment.

As the commander of the coalition navy, Du Bailei lit his pipe to force himself to calm down, and in just half an hour of fighting, they lost more than a dozen warships.

There are a large number of mines in front, there are Qing warships and torpedo boats equipped with a large number of torpedoes, there are terrifying submarines under the sea, and there is only a little more than an hour before it gets dark.

Hebu suddenly said whimsically: "Maybe it's a good choice to go directly into the minefield, although there will be some costs, but at least don't worry about the submarine under the surface." ”

The threat of submarines is undoubtedly the greatest for the coalition fleet, the invisible enemy and the lethal attack power of one blow, this kind of enemy is more likely to make the officers and soldiers collapse, the minefield is undoubtedly a good place, and the submarine should not dare to enter the minefield activities.

Du Bailei stretched her brows, but quickly frowned again, "Once we enter the minefield, we will face a dense torpedo attack by the Qing army, and the torpedo boat has a shallow draft and will not trigger the mines under the water." ”

Heb said with some frustration: "It takes time to clear the mines, and the first formation's use of carpet-like intensive artillery bombardment does not seem to be very effective, and the situation will be even worse if it continues to be delayed." ”

"Are you trying to force your way through a minefield?" Du Bailei shook her head, "It's at least three nautical miles from here to the mouth of the bay, God knows how many mines the Qing people have laid, I think, no warship will be willing to follow the order to open the way in front." ”

The battleship that opens the way in front is bound to sink! Hobb was silent for a moment, the miserable situation of the first formation falling into a minefield, at least the battleships of the second and third formations saw it with their own eyes, not to mention the combined fleet of the five countries, even the simple Royal Navy fleet of the British Empire may not have any warships willing to go to the mine with a fearless spirit.

"Boom ——。" Another loud explosion sounded, and the seemingly powerful and sturdy ironclad ship was as vulnerable as paper paste in the face of the huge lethality of the torpedo.

"Well played! Retreat now! "Hidden under the surface of the sea in the 001 submarine, the captain Luo Hongze, wearing a raincoat, raised his head after lowering the periscope and praised without hesitation, due to the lack of sealing technology, the periscope will leak when it rises, so you have to wear a raincoat with the periscope, and the feeling of soaking in sea water is really not good.

"Load the torpedo and look for the next target." Luo Hongze was in a very happy mood, it was really a cool feeling of this kind of sneak attack, and in addition, the submarine showed its might for the first time in actual combat, and it will inevitably be highly valued in the navy in the future, and it will be equipped in large quantities, and this independent brigade will definitely be upgraded.

"Captain, there's only one torpedo left."

Listening to the reminder, Luo Hongze said with a regretful face: "When you go back, you must suggest building a large submarine, otherwise the number of torpedoes carried is too small and seriously insufficient." ”

The size of the torpedo is not small, and the inner compartment of the submarine is narrow, and it is already the limit for a submarine to carry four torpedoes, and it is precisely because there are few torpedoes that every time they launch a torpedo, they must ensure that they have more than eighty percent certainty, which is really not a waste.

On the surface of the sea, a huge whirlpool was formed on the surface of the sea with the sinking of the warship, and even if a soldier who reacted quickly and was lucky enough to jump ship and escape, it was difficult to escape the bad luck of being swept into the bottom of the sea by the whirlpool.

"The naval battles in the era of ironclads were more brutal and suffered greater casualties than those in the era of sail warships!" Du Bailei looked at the whirlpool and sighed, and then changed her tone, "If you want to break through, you must sacrifice at least half of the warships, and you may even .......be wiped out." ”

"You want to surrender?" Hebu asked softly.

"Surrender should be the best option." Du Bailei didn't deny it, but her tone was a little helpless, "Even if you can break through, it is impossible to turn the tide of the war, there is no need to continue to fight in this battle in South Africa, the Qing people can easily win the final victory by virtue of their naval superiority, we don't need to let so many excellent soldiers sacrifice in this sea area in vain." ”

Before the words fell, there was a huge explosion in the distance, Du Bailei turned around a little numbly and looked, the coalition warships on the sea were already in chaos at this time, and they were all kinds of evasions on the sea like headless flies, all worried that they would be targeted by the submarines of the Qing Kingdom.

"This battle is out of the question!" Du Bailei said in a muffled voice.

The morale of the army is disintegrated, the morale is weakened, and it is on the verge of collapse, and it is indeed impossible to fight. However, Hebu did not agree with surrender, even if he wanted to surrender, he could not surrender at this time, and now there are about sixty large and small ironclad ships left in the coalition fleet, once surrendered, the naval strength of the Qing State will inevitably skyrocket, not only England, but also the whole of Europe can not compete with the Qing State.

With a slight groan, he said slowly: "The morale of the army is shaken and the morale is low, mainly because of the fear of submarines, if you change the way of playing, there is still hope to turn the tide of the war." ”

"Another way to play?" Du Bailei narrowed her eyes slightly, "Pursuing the Qing fleet? ”

"Not bad." He Bu nodded, "Whether the Qing army retreats or makes a roundabout, we ignore it and go directly to the west, the submarine has a fatal weakness, the speed is slow!" Underwater sailing is especially slow! As long as we get rid of the submarines of the Qing army, we still have hope of breaking through! ”

Du Bailei said: "There is indeed a channel to the sea in the southern part of Maputo Bay, but how can the Qing army not deploy defenses? I'm sure that the waterway must have been riddled with mines as well. ”

"We can abandon the ship and land and break through by land." He Bu said in a deep voice: "Don't say that the Qing army didn't think that we would abandon the ship and land, the Qing army would intercept it even on land, and it would not be able to intercept it!" ”

Abandon ship landing? Du Bailei glanced at him, and vaguely guessed the other party's thoughts, the other party was worried that these warships would fall into the hands of the Qing army, and the Qing country would also have unparalleled naval combat power, but the foundation was still weaker after all, once these sixty or so ironclad ships were captured, the strength would inevitably skyrocket, and the British would be out of breath.

If it was before the Franco-Prussian War, he would have been happy to see the British deflated, but now France needs to join forces with England to restrain Germany, and England's strength has been greatly damaged, which is not a good thing for France.

However, what will be the consequences if the ship is really abandoned and landed, and the battleship is blown up and sunk? The Qing army will definitely land and flee tens of thousands of navies in anger and chase after them, and under the pursuit of the Qing army, they have the opportunity to escape back to Durban over the mountains and mountains?

Thinking about it again, at present, the army has no fighting spirit, it is impossible to break through from the mouth of the bay, and there are actually two roads in front of it - surrender or abandon the ship to land.

Seeing that he was silent, He Bu was a little anxious, and immediately persuaded: "No matter how you decide, you must leave here first, and then you will be sunk by a submarine, and then you will completely collapse." ”

Du Bailei nodded, and immediately ordered in a loud voice, ordering the fleet to withdraw to the sea area northwest of the Qing fleet, first get out of the attack range of the Qing submarines, and then calmly discuss.

After receiving the order, the warships of various countries on the verge of collapse that had already been attacked by submarines did not think much about it at all, and rushed to retreat to the designated direction, for fear that they would take a slow step and become the target of the submarine's attack, and the submarine hidden under the surface of the water and could launch torpedoes at any time to sink their battleship had already generated a strong fear among them.

Seeing that the coalition fleet was not in a hurry to break through, Xiao Mingliang naturally ignored it, it was more beneficial for them to delay the time, once it was dark and they could not see the torpedo track, the coalition fleet would become a fish on the board and let them slaughter.

On the flagship 'Sewani', seeing the Qing fleet standing still, Du Bailei secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, the coalition fleet was chaotic, like a swarm of retreat, if the Qing fleet followed and pursued like before, it would definitely be an unimaginable disaster!

"The Qing army did not follow the pursuit, and the fleet could take the opportunity to pull away." He Bu wasted no time in reminding: "Once we distance ourselves and hold on until dark, we can calmly abandon the ship and land ......., this is a rare opportunity!" ”

Du Bailei rolled his eyes angrily, "Pull away, do you think the speed of the fleet can be faster than the torpedo boats of the Qing army?" ”

Hearing this, He Bu sneered and said, "The Qing army may not dare to send torpedo boats to follow and pursue. He himself didn't believe this, the Qing army would never allow their fleet to get out of sight, the speed of the torpedo boat should be more than twenty-five knots, and it was impossible to get rid of the Qing army's tracking!

"Whether to surrender or abandon the ship to land can be said to be a choice of life and death, and it is better to seek the opinions of the navies of various countries on this matter." Du Bailei said in a deep voice: "Even as the commander of the coalition forces, I have no right to decide their life and death. ”

Report ——。 The communications officer walked quickly to the two men, "The 'Inferret' asked, has it given up on breaking through the mouth of the bay?" ”

"How do you think you should reply to Bendman?" Du Bailei asked indifferently.

After a slight sigh, He Bucai said: "It is impossible to forcibly break through from the mouth of the bay, temporarily get out of the attack area of the Qing submarine, and then convene a meeting of the admirals of various countries to discuss the next course of action." ”

Du Bailei said without thinking: "According to the reply that General Hebu said." ”

On the flagship of the 'Inverai', after listening to the report of the communications officer, Bendman looked expressionlessly at the warships of various countries that were in chaos in front of them, and they seemed to be rushing to flee for their lives.

However, this retreat will have a fatal blow to the morale of the army, and if you want to break through, I am afraid that it is impossible, and the reason why he asked whether he has given up breaking through from the mouth of the bay is for this reason.

There was silence for a while before he spoke: "Contact General Albini of Italy and say that I want to talk to him." ”

The five-nation coalition is actually divided into two camps, one is Britain and France, and the other is Germany, Austria and Italy, and the reason why Bendman wants to contact Albini is naturally to compete for the right to speak in order to protect its own interests, and the coalition fleet has no choice but to surrender when it cannot break through.

Judging from the current situation of the coalition fleet, even the qualification to fight with the Qing army to the end has been lost, surrender, he is not opposed, in the current situation, surrender can be said to be the most helpless, but it is also the wisest choice, continue to fight, it must be a result of the annihilation of the whole army!

However, he was worried that the British would not agree to surrender, after this war, the strong rise of the Qing navy was unstoppable, and England would not only lose the throne of 'sea supremacy', but also the vast overseas colonies.

Although Italy completed the reunification relatively late, the time for the development of industry was short, and the foundation was relatively weak, it attached importance to naval construction, and was not inferior to Britain and France in the design and construction of ironclad ships, and was only second to Britain and France in terms of total naval strength and the number and total tonnage of ironclad ships.

Vice Admiral Albini, who had participated in the Battle of Lisa, stood on the bridge with a somewhat lonely expression, in this battle, the Italian Navy's losses can be said to be the largest, as soon as the battle began, it lost three battleships at the mouth of the bay, and in the following half-hour fierce battle, it lost four more battleships, which can be said to be the most unlucky.

"The general ——, the 'Inverai' sent a flag, and General Bendman invited you to talk."

Albini only pondered for a moment before he understood what Bendman wanted to talk to him. After raising the telescope and scanning it, and after searching for the location of the 'Inverai', he put down the telescope and said, "Slow down——。 ”

Soon, the 'Invera' approached and waited to set up the springboard, Albini quickly boarded the 'Inverai', and Bendman quickly stepped forward and asked, "What do you think of the current situation?" ”

Albini asked rhetorically, "Is Your Excellency planning to surrender?" ”

"This battle is no longer fought, and surrender is the wisest choice." Bendman said directly: "However, Britain and France may not want to see the Qing navy grow rapidly. ”

Albini said: "Is there any other choice but to surrender?" ”

"If ——。" Bendeman said slowly: "If Britain and France make other demands, such as scuttling or sinking battleships..... ”

"I don't think anyone would agree." Albini said: "Destroying the warship will only anger the Qing people, in this case it is extremely unwise to provoke the Qing people, and it also destroys the possibility of us redeeming the warship, isn't it?" ”

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